Cornerstone
by Gecji
Summary: Though many people have influenced Naruto throughout the entirety of the storyline, one man arguably stands out as the one who started it all, the one who saved the boy from himself at an all too critical moment - Umino Iruka. The first confrontation with Mizuki goes terribly wrong; with the cornerstone broken, just what will Naruto become?


"Ehehehe... you found me, Iruka-sensei," Naruto replied, a hand scratching absently at the back of his head, his mouth turned up into the same mischievous smile Iruka had seen many times before. Well-rehearsed, Iruka's mouth had already opened to press into a lecture, his face twisting into a scowl befitting his position before the action died halfway; near everywhere the chuunin instructor looked on the boy was bruised or dirtied in some manner, and even Naruto's excessively orange jumpsuit seemed somehow faded in his eyes.

"Naruto, what happened? You're all beaten up." With the gravity of the "prank" and his own lengthy search finding the boy, it was almost surprising to Iruka how quickly his anger gave way to concern as he looked to his pupil, his eyes scanning briefly over the immediate surroundings for whatever had harmed the boy. Situated on a forest outskirt, the area was nothing if not tranquil; the more dangerous animals wouldn't be seen until much farther in, and the only building nearby - a small, wooden storage shed - seemed to have long since fallen into disrepair. It was certainly possible that another search party had found him and given chase, but if so, wouldn't he have heard gotten word on the way here? Iruka hadn't seen so much of a hint of another person for a few minutes, and while he knew Naruto was slippery at times, even he wouldn't have escaped so cleanly; the other searches were out for blood tonight.

"Sensei, sensei!" Iruka's pensive thoughts didn't survive Naruto's sudden outburst, the small ninja-to-be practically bursting with an excitement heavily at odds with his exhausted appearance. "If I do a really cool jutsu, you'll let me graduate from the academy, right?!" Though the question was met only with surprise and confusion from the instructor, the small boy nonetheless settled into an intent pose, his fingers pressed firmly into a seal Iruka did not immediately recognize.

Many people had assumed the scroll's theft to be nothing more than a petty prank by the blond-haired imp; nobody had thought he would actually try to _use _it. Quashing his nervousness with a practiced ease, Iruka closed the distance to lay a careful hand on his student's shoulder, his eyes flitting to the large scroll tied to the younger boy's back. "Naruto, where did you get that scroll?" It was nothing if not a simple question - the words spoken lightly with only the faintest hint of disapproval - but it would make an excellent start to the sermon he had prepared. It had taken Iruka hours to track the boy down, and most of it had been preparing for this moment; the boy would be lucky if his ears were still intact once he was through with them.

"Mizuki-sensei told me about it." Naruto replied easily, earning little more than a frown from his teacher and inadvertently saving himself from the tongue lashing that was supposed to follow. Mizuki was an excellent academy instructor - very approachable, personable - and it was difficult to imagine that he would let slip something of importance like this. It would explain why Mizuki had seemed so fervent in his own search for Naruto, at least; if what Naruto said was true, then he was at the very least partially responsible.

"He said that I would definitely graduate if I showed you a skill from this scroll. He even told me about a good spot to train!"

Iruka went immediately rigid, a sudden shiver gripping at his spine as his attention snapped from his student's smiling face to the surroundings once more, a leaden sense of dread settling uncomfortable in his stomach. The hand at Naruto's shoulder gripped tighter as the chuunin's gaze flowed from the shed - still as untouched as before - to the nearby trees, and it was purely by reflex that Iruka managed to shove the younger boy away as a rain of kunai slammed into him from the front, the sharpened metal driving his body against the wall of the dilapidated building.

Though the kunai hadn't pierced anything vital, the handler was nothing if not well-versed in their use; those that had hit their mark had pierced deep, and Iruka was silently grateful that he had managed to push Naruto away. These weapons were aimed to kill, and it was only his own sudden movement that had spared them both from fatal injury. It was with clenched teeth that Iruka looked upward, his eyes seeking out the branches of the trees even as he fought against the throbbing pain of skewered flesh.

"I'm surprised you managed to find him."

Iruka looked to the source, his grimace only growing more pronounced as he recognized the white-haired instructor through slitted eyes, a hand already moving to grip at the kunai imbedded in his left shoulder. "So that's how it is, Mizuki..." Iruka replied through gritted teeth, his words punctuated with a sharp intake of breath as the bloody weapon was pulled free. Settled onto a canopy branch not far away, Mizuki had obviously come fully prepared for a confrontation; not only had he casually used over a dozen kunai to pin Iruka down, but two oversized shuriken - each easily holding a two-foot diameter - had been strapped to his back, the sharpened points glinting ominously in canopy's filtered light.

"Naruto," It was the same, familiar voice Iruka had heard from his friend many times over, the tone genial with only the faintest overtones of authority. Only Mizuki's eyes seemed misplaced, his gaze passing over Iruka for mere moments before seeming to discard his presence entirely, cold and uncaring, "Hand over the scroll."

Iruka's hand reached for the kunai imbedded in his right thigh now, his breathing growing haggard with pain as the metal proved itself deeper than the first. The motions only became more violent as he heard Naruto's panicked response, the younger boy sounding no more than a few feet to his left. "Hey, hey! What's going on here?!" Iruka didn't risk a glance his way, keeping his eyes firmly locked on the treeborne ninja even as he twisted the kunai free from his body, the weapon dropping soon after to lie next to the other. "Naruto, don't let him get that scroll no matter what!" Iruka didn't even wait to finish speaking before moving on to the weapon lodged in his torso, blood seeping freely into his clothing as he pulled it free from his stomach. "That's a dangerous scroll filled with forbidden techniques; Mizuki used you to get it for himself!"

The white-haired instructor glanced to Iruka for a moment more before simply smirking, his frosty gaze narrowing into an unnerving glare before continuing. "Naruto, it's dangerous for you to have that scroll." The gentleness that had been so prominent in Mizuki's voice began to strain, the edges of his words growing flayed with restrained irritation. "The whole village has been lying to you, Naruto," a jolt ran through Iruka at these words, his gaze newly fearful as he looked to his friend, to the kind-hearted colleague he had spoken to just this morning. "Mizuku, don't!"

Even if the white-haired ninja had heard him, he showed no signs of following along.

"But I'll tell you the truth, Naruto." Mizuki's smirk grew ever crueller, the man not even trying to mask his vehemence now, "Twelve years ago, a monster attacked the village, destroying many homes, killing ninja by the dozen." The brown-haired chuunin's hands now working in concert to remove what remained of the kunai buried in his body, a soft 'chink' punctuating Mizuki's speech every few seconds as more metal was added to the growing pile at Iruka's feet.

"The monster was stopped, but a certain rule was put in place." A pause here, the white-haired traitor grinning openly as he looked over the younger spellbound boy, seemingly satisfied with his captive audience. "A rule that you were never supposed to know."

"A... rule?" Iruka couldn't help but look to Naruto now, the blond's confusion nearly palpable as he continued on, bound by Mizuki's words. "What kind of rule is it?"

"The rule," the traitor began, each word stretched out to tortuous length, "forbids us from talking about how you're a monster fox."

"W-what do you mean?" Though the confusion on the younger boy's face remained untouched, his words had taken on an entirely different cast; gone was the mischievous student, the prankster of Konoha, the orphan that endured the village scorn and had overcome it. Pain clouded his eyes and voice, the traitor's words impossibly heavy for the younger boy; never had Iruka seen Naruto so off-balanced and uncertain. Never had he seen him so... vulnerable. Words of his own came to his lips, the chuunin barely registering the pain lancing throughout his body as he shouted to the trees. "Stop it, Mizuki!"

Iruka may as well have been part of the scenery for all his outburst mattered, the two other occupants focused solely on the other. "What I'm saying is that _you_ are the nine-tailed monster that destroyed Konoha, Naruto! _You_ were the one who killed Iruka's parents -

"Mizuki, that's enough!"

- and _you_ had to be sealed up by the Hokage you admire!" Mizuki's voice reached a fevered pitch as he continued on without pause, his face twisting to madness as he hurled his words directly to the frozen boy below. "Didn't you find it strange how everyone hated your guts, Naruto?!" A hand flew to his back, his fingers wrapping around an oversized shuriken before tugging it free and bringing it to bear. The white-haired chuunin wasted little time in the motion, his right hand spinning the shuriken from its grip at the center while holding it poised up and to his side, much as a baseball before a pitch. "Even Iruka is the same! He actually hates your guts!"

A bright blue accentuated the spiel, Naruto's own fevered state pushing out the chakra he had so carefully collected for his technique not even five minutes' past. Dense enough to be visible, raw emotion drove the chakra onward, the color flashing dangerously about the younger boy's body as he violently cursed and strained. Small cuts - not yet healed from his earlier exertions - began to reopen from the force, and it was with both fear and awe that Iruka was forced to look on.

"That scroll was used to seal you up, Naruto!" A manic grin, completely heedless - or uncaring - of his target's impressive display. Seeming content with the speed of his weapon, the traitor brought it forward and released it with a fervid intensity, the shuriken's rotation so great as to be audible even from the forest floor. "You'll always be a monster, Naruto! Nobody will ever accept you!"

Iruka tracked the shuriken's path in an instant and, in a moment of absolute clarity, three details became certain. One, for all of Mizuku's faults, his aim with projectiles was nothing if not deadly accurate. Two, for all of Naruto's evasive ability, it meant absolutely nothing if he wasn't even paying attention.

Three, Iruka wasn't going to just watch Naruto die.

The brown-haired chuunin thrust himself forward, his body protesting the movement even before he had actually begun in earnest. Blood began to pour freely from his wounds, and it was only panicked necessity that stopped him from collapsing right then and there. It was nothing less than a small miracle that Iruka managed to make it to the smaller boy in time, but the miracle simply was not large enough to ensure Naruto's survival; the shuriken was closing in too fast, and it would be impossible to pull the distraught boy away in time to actually avoid its deadly spin. Nothing Iruka had could deflect Mizuki's oversized weapon, and there was absolutely no time for an appropriate jutsu.

Iruka did the one thing he saw possible, his body flowing into the path of the shuriken, the chuunin poising himself above Naruto just before the shuriken made contact. The sharpened edges ripped unceremoniously through the flak jacket before moving on to devour the skin and flesh just beneath; a vicious tearing sensation spread throughout the chuunin's back, the metal digging into his already wounded body before finally, after several moments, jerking to an abrupt stop.

Small flecks of crimson fell to the face of the petrified boy below, the chuunin unable to restrain fully the blood that rushed to his mouth as the weapon took claim of its prize. For a very brief moment there had been a blinding, unendurable pain, but already his body had grown aloof to the situation, the sensation being replaced instead by a stillness that was far too comfortable than it had a right to be. The chuunin's gaze never left his pupil's face, and it was with muted wonder that he recognized his own tears falling down upon Naruto's stilled form.

"Why..?"

Iruka had at first thought the question his own, the words themselves barely a whisper and his mind not quite keeping his thoughts in line. It was only after a brief pause that Iruka recognized their source, his mouth turning into the slightest of smiles, his eyes drinking in the sight of the one he had successfully managed to protect. Near every day the boy had been a source of endless trouble, but he did not regret his decision. Naruto, Iruka, they had been the same, both trying to eke out their place in an unforgiving world, both turning to mischief when nothing else seemed to draw the eyes of those they sought out most.

He had wanted to hold Naruto close in that moment, to let him know that somebody really did care, that somebody finally understood what he was going through. It may have taken far longer than it should have, but Iruka knew what he had to do, the words Naruto needed to hear, the same words he himself had longed for as a child.

More blood began to spill from Iruka onto the child below, rivulets leaking freely from the many holes in his chest. The chuunin opened his mouth to speak, his eyes seeking out Naruto's own before he gave a tortured spasm; with his airway filled with fluid and his lungs engulfed in flame, it was all the chuunin could do just to try to breathe. '_I'm sorry, Naruto. I should have been there for you, from the beginning...'_

Instead, the chuunin collapsed, his injuries proving too much for his consciousness to handle; the last thing Iruka managed to see, his breath failing and the light fading from his eyes, was the tear-streaked face of his beloved student, calling out his name.


End file.
